Daily Pioneer News

Congressman Kind explains a graph illustrating the decline of assistance offered by Pell Grants.

PLATTEVILLE - When deciding whether or not to pursue higher education, prospective students may point to increasing tuition as one of the primary roadblocks. Congressman Ron Kind, of Wisconsin's third congressional district, talked about that issue with constituents at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville on Monday, April 18. "Forty eight percent of low income high school graduates chose not to go on to higher education last year because they couldn't afford it," stated Kind. "Pell Grants offset around 70 percent of tuition costs in 1976, while they only offset around 35 percent of tuition today. The availability of student loans is increasing, whereas the availability of grants is decreasing," noted Kind.

Kind, a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, is concerned about the affect that less grant money will have on low income students. The Bush administration's proposed budget includes proposals to eliminate Perkins Loans, low fixed student loan consolidation rates and programs like Upward Bound that expose low income high school students to college courses.

Additionally, the proposed budget would freeze student financial aid programs, such as work-study. While a portion of money from the eliminated Perkins Loans program would be shifted to Pell Grants, it would still negatively affect those students who qualify for the former but not the latter.

In response to his concerns about Bush's proposed budget, Kind has invited college students in his district to give him input by joining his higher education advisory committee. Kind is in favor of increasing financial aid, particularly in light of recent increases in University of Wisconsin tuition. "Personnel represents 85 percent of UWP's budget. As the university absorbs increases in health care costs for its employees, it is very hard to keep tuition from not going up," explained UWP Chancellor David Markee.

Kind recently traveled to China, where a large percentage of the countries Gross National Product is devoted to improving education, and was impressed by the fact that China graduated 10 times more engineers than the United States last year. "Supporting a top notch education system will lead to a secure future for our country," noted Kind. "When higher education issues come up in D.C., I think that you students have an important and valuable voice that should be heard," Kind told the students in the audience.

When asked what students can do about the proposed budget, Kind stated that students should make their voice heard by contacting the White House and members of congress.

Contact: Barb Daus, special assistant to the chancellor, UWP Chancellor's Office, (608) 342-1282,daus@uwplatt.edu Prepared by: Jessica Groshek, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, groshekj@uwplatt.edu